Jerry J. Fortin

True enough, but there is a very great likelyhood that the Liberal Party will have to appoint a leader. This will sink them in the polls. Steve is going to call an election, winter campaing maybe, but spring for sure. The man wants a majority so bad he will probably set up a bill for a fall.

I don't think so, but you never know do you? Actually I think there is a nice split on this forum.

That would explain much wouldn't it! I can see "Bin" getting a walk out of all this. I would prefer that our American brothers find the bastard, but I would not complain if the Canucks did what the Yanks couldn't do!

So what if he isn't French enough. Those citizens have decided that French is the ONLY way to go. The rest of the nation has to include a language that a very small percentage of the population uses, and they can make the use of English a crime. Give me a break. I thought that we could solve this with their referendum, but I guess not. We should have had a referendum when they did, our question could have been should Quebec be allowed to stay in Canada? What do you think the rest of Canada would have said to that?

It was invaded for the expres purpose of getting "Bin". Their government would not hand him over so the result was invasion. The "Bin" hunt was unsuccessful and they wanted to keep up the effort so off to beat up on Iraq they went. Is it all about oil? I doubt it. I think it is all about politics working within the confines of an economy based on a military industrial complex. When you have as many people in the US emplyees in the building of arms you have to use the darned things so you order some more.

Would you like to work for Paul Martin? He certainly didn't, so he left the government. Yes the conservative article is about him. Not they they are biased or anything.....

I have lived in Alberta for more three and a half decades. I have worked for the same company for two and a half decades. I have had five children and two wives in Alberta. I worked outside in forty below weather and I have worked inside too. I have been a union man and a supervisor. I have studied the political situation in Alberta from the United Farmers to the Progressive Conservatives. Having said that I believe I am reasonably qualified to speak my piece when and where I see fit. Just to clear something up here, the Socreds lost power in Alberta when the Progressive Conservatives falsely accused the government of being in debt. King Peter took office with a six billion dollar bank accoint and no debt. Five years later he named the bank account the Heritage Trust Fund. In 1988 the last dollar was deposited in the fund, and in 2004 the fund was completely incorporated in general revenues. For all true intents and purposes it no longer exists. In twelve years the government managed to add six billion to the fund between 76-88. This is the much vaunted fiscal conservative government of the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta. That fund should have about 450 billion dollars in it, but it doesn't. As we speak our conventional oil reserves are being depleted at a horrific rate. Those are the ones we make a few bucks on in royalties. Which by the way the Government of Alberta gives rebates on those royalties to the oil companys every year totaling some 250 million dollars. Our tar sands production is under a 1 percent royalty on profits untill all investment costs are recovered, by the way that includes an abstract lost investment income calculation. Things are not really rosy in Alberta, but there is a lot of people that seem to think so. Yeah its true that if you bought a house in Calgary in the seventies for 20,000.00 and now have it valued at 500,000.00 you are a long ways ahead of the game. Now how in the hell are your kids going to buy a house at those prices? Don't get me wrong I am an Albertan through and through wouldn't want to live anywhere else, but this province is not the end all and be all that it is cracked up to be.

If the citizens of Canada want to actually get something done in this nation they will need a leader to pull it off. Harper simply doesn't make the grade, he inspires nobody. Layton only inspires lefties. Tobin has the ability to utilize a support base that transcends partisan boundries. The man is literally Captain Canada. He is the only politician I have seen in this country in the last thirty years with both the balls and brains to lead a government in the direction of prosperity. I don't want him as just a Liberal, in fact I don't want a Liberal. I want Tobin. I want the Tobinator unfettered by partisan leadership to act in the interests of citizens. Somebody has to have his email address or know how to get to him, lets find him and convince him that All in Good Time has arrived....

I hope the Tories do set up a vote on SSM. Make it a confidence vote while they are at it. I would really like to see the Liberals have to appoint a leader because there will not be time for a convention. I also want to watch the NDP's whack a few Conservatives across the country, trust me this will happen. Meanwhile in Quebec the Tories will probably NOT gain the seats they want. With a little luck the NDP will hold the balance of power, and then the government will be forced to actually do something for citizens instead of business for a change.

I would really like to help you fellas out way over there in central Canada. Tell you what, there is a whole herd of red necks in Alberta like myself who think a republic is a fine idea, and we would just love to show you how it can work real good in Alberta. You guys can argue with the Frenchies and the Rock dwellers about how to set it up for yourselves, but out here in the west we are eyeballing a republic of our own. I have to tell you that it just doesn't matter to a bunch of us red neck Albertans who is running the show in Ottawa. We are not fond of sad comedies out here. When we have it set up and running maybe we will amble over and buy some nice real estate and build a few embassies and have you folks over for a few beers. There is a lot of support in Alberta for a republic, but not within Canada.

Here in the land of too much oil and too little royalties we are used to market fluctuations. In short we see nothing new in oil patch profits.

It seems to me that politics have degenerated into something other than what they were designed to be. I had always thought that politicians were responsible for advocating the will of the public. I was wrong, that much is clear. I will now spend the rest of my days in this life wondering what would serve to fix the system.

Very good! Actually I am Alberta separatist! If it were up to me I would devolve government into far smaller ecomonic and cultural centres with more independence of action available to them. At the same time I advocate a multinational defensive structure based on mutual needs. Let us govern ourselves but join together in times of need in mutual support. Strange but true, that is my little vision for the future.

Wasn't the intent of the North American Free Trade Agreement about unfettered market access. I thought the intention was to create a level playing field where open competion and the free market determined prices. What we see with this arrangement is market restrictions that limit competition and increase the price to the consumer. While I don't disagree that keeping prices higher benefits producers, but correct me if I am wrong but didn't the Conservative government run around the country selling NAFTA on the basis of claimed reduction in prices to consumers? Wasn't that how we got behind the idea of eliminating protectionism to improve our economy because it would benefit the consumer? What I am hearing in this forum is that the consumer was not the true beneficiary of this agreement but instead it was designed to protect the interests of business at the expense of the citizen.

It seems to me that there is little difference between a tarrif and an export tax. When the variable economic considerations of the market place determine a decline in prices profits shrink, and that is amplified for Canadian producers with this export tax. In short when times get tough, it will be tougher on us than on them. Isn't the whole idea to level the playing field? This agreement creates an uphill climb for our producers when industry is thrown into a defensive position in terms of both market share and profitability. As far as I am concerned we have effectively hamstrung ourselves.

Lets not stop with just free votes. How about an actual constitution that citizens get to ratify? Throw in some recall legislation and maybe some fixed election dates. Perhaps we could even have a tri-cameral system with term limits in the executive branch.... Opps, sorry about that I got carried away dreaming about what a real democracy might look like.

There are no tariffs? Really, read this and tell me that again will you.http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/softwood_lumber/ Are you an American consumer? From what I can figure out letting the Americans keep a billion dollars makes Canadian producers the losers in this. That in addition to the betting they will take when they have to pay an EXPORT TAX, which must be far different than a tarrif....

My score was ; Economic Left/Right: -2.38 Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.56

Another reason I don't like the deal is the feds have arbitrarily signed away the ability to complete the litigation already undertaken.

The softwood deal is crap. Is it a subsidy to determine a price level? The damned terminology is misleading. A subsidy is a payment to a producer is it not? There have been no such payments made has there? What of the Billion dollars we left behind? Who benefits from an agreement that sanctions tarrifs?

Perhaps the real question should be whether or not international trade agreements should be made at all. I mean what is the point of the exercise when even once an agreement is made it can be violated anyway without consequence. The NAFTA arrangement being worth discussion as a case in point. How long have we been debating soft wood lumber? You can say that it is now resolved but the agreement reached provided a means to restrict our market access and leaves a billion dolars of illegal taxes in the hands of the United States government. Free trade is one thing, but I will only support it if I ever get to see it. As it stands free trade is a business arrangement that benefits the corporate citizens at the expense of the natural citizens. When the individual has less right than the group, we have begun a process of corporate governance which will ultimately be proven to be detrimental to the best interests of the citizens. We as a society of individuals need to consider the ramifications of our own actions. It will soon become a moot point with the rise to dominance of the Asian economic giants in China and India.

Well said! I misrepresented my own position! I did not mean to suggest that our wealth makes us target or that their poverty makes them terrorists. It is the difference in societies that determine these actions. By and large the terrorists are not state agencies but fanatical special interest groups. Sometimes religious, but not always and its definately political by design. They are people without the means to conduct conventional warfare but are intent on being heard from by means of violence. Peaceful negotiations have not worked for them, they have not yet got what they want and they lash out with any available means to draw attention to their cause. They seem to have no regard for defenseless and innocent citizens. These people will go to any means to acquire media attention. Instead of being treated like common criminals they are treated like political warriors. When I said they want what we have I should have said they want what they want and they don't care how they get it. The don't want to live in our form of society, but to live in their own. They see western culture as the root of all the evils in their land and demonize us all as puppets of a capitalistic Godless state. They simply don't understand what we believe to be freedom and liberty. Their version is a secular one that definews theri reality. Perhaps they should be seen as the same as us prior to John Calvin. They are living within an idealist dream of religous promise.

The problem seems to stem from people attempting to enforce their morality on others. Its funny that some people seem to use the arguement that gay rights or same sex marriage is being forced on them. I think that these people don't see that they are trying to to the same thing to others. That is why I don't think the matter is of public concern, but private instead. If we want to truely be free, we need to respect other peoples freedom as well. You simple can't have it both ways. If something offends you, perhaps you should not do it and save yourself the grief. If something somebody else does offends you, perhaps you should cease interacting with the person that offends you. I would suggest that until offense is translated into harm the matter is not subject to public judgement in the first place. The process of undertaking the preservation of public safety should be the focus of government and law enforcement. When the public is endangered by the actions of an inidividual it becomes a matter of public concern and subject to the judgement of the public. I would prefer that the government involve itself in matters of public not individual concern.

Clever arguement! The simple truth is that a vast majority of citizens go through their daily lives unaware of the consequences of their small part in the mainstream of our socio/political civilization. We need to eat, so we work. That work is less important to the citizen than the wage they receive from preforming that work. Its all about looking out for number one isn't it? By taking this position we are protecting ourselves against outside influences. This is understandable but short sighted.

I really hate to burst your philosophic bubble, but life is not a game. For a vast majority of humanity it is little more than a daily struggle to survive. We extremely advantaged humans living in the lap of luxury are not qualified to pass judgement on people living outside of our little bubble of what we call civilization. We will never understand the reasons for terrorism because we are free and well feed. We are educated and able to enjoy ourselves, but we will never understand the hearts and minds of those wretched individuals not blessed with our opulant lifestyles. They want what we have, and they are willing to kill and die for it.